Journey
by GrimmUlquigrrrl
Summary: Ulquiorra is the new kid. That's never easy, but it's even harder when there's a crazy football player doing everything he can do to seduce you. A more serious story than it sounds like! Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Ulquiorra hefted up his dufflebag, sliding the padded strap onto his shoulder. He had said his goodbyes to his childhood friends, everything he owned packed into a few boxes in the bed of his black Ford F1-50. The drive up to his brother's house in Hueco Mundo would take three days, unless the weather got in the way. The grey winter sky waiting just outside his apartment door told him that it would.

His transition into his new school would be smooth. His benefactor had set that much up before he died. His uncle had called this a 'new beginnin',' telling him that this was his chance to start over after his parents' accident. Ulquiorra walked out of the door, the doorknob cold against his palm.

He didn't hold much hope.

_**There ya go folks, a new story! I'm sorry for the super-short chapter, it's more like a prologue really, but I put 'chapter one' in my journal and I put it in pen, so I think I'll just leave it as is. Thanks, please R&R! **_


	2. Chapter 2

"Class, this is our newest student," the teacher said. "He just transferred here from Karakura town. Care to introduce yourself?" Ulquiorra stepped forward, taking a breath and starting up on his monologue. At least this was the last time he would have to recite it.

"My name is Ulquiorra Schiffer," he said. "I am male, despite my appearance. I am also highly intolerant of jibes to the contrary. That is all." There were titters around the room, which Ulquiorra ignored.

"Welcome to my classroom, Ulquiorra," the teacher said. "I'm Ms. Hallibel. If you have any questions, feel free to come to me. There is a free desk right over there." Ulquiorra looked toward where Ms. Hallibel nodded, seeing that next to him on his left he was going to have to deal with a rather immature-looking male. His desk itself was one desk away from the window, and said immature-looking male happened to be in the desk separating Ulquiorra from the glass. He grabbed his backpack and headed over silently, the boy watching him and grinning like a wild man.

Ulquiorra sat down as Ms. Hallibel started the lesson. As she turned around to write on the blackboard with an old fashioned stick of chalk he heard one boy whisper to another to 'take a look at that ass!' Ulquiorra could see that this was not going to be the most enjoyable of classes. His classmates were clearly not paying the slightest bit of attention to the lesson.

"Hey," a loud stage-whisper came from his side, "hey!" Ulquiorra slowly looked disapprovingly over at his neighbor. The young man reeked of rebelliousness, with his bright blue hair and triangular green tattoos at the edges of his eyes. Not that Ulquiorra could judge on those alone; he had some tattoos himself in turquoise tear tracks down his face, but add the boy's tattoos to his cocky grin and daring blue eyes the equation all added up to one thing: trouble.

"Hey sweet thing," the brutish male whispered, "whaddaya say we go grab some coffee after school?"

"Did you not hear me?" Ulquiorra asked coolly, dismissing the boy and turning back to the teacher. "I am male."

"Oh, I heard ya," his desk-mate said, leaning over. Ulquiorra ignored him, but he could feel that if this stranger leaned any farther than he would be invading his personal space. "C'mooon, I know you want to."

"Your mind must not be functioning correctly," Ulquiorra said icily.

"That's just what you do to me, babe," the young man winked. Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed, but he remained attentive to the teacher and didn't look over.

"You truly were not listening to me," he said. "If you had been, you would have known better than to call me by a pet name normally used to refer to a woman."

"Aw, you gonna get pissed off at me?" the other teen asked playfully, cocking his head.

"Ridiculous," Ulquiorra said to himself, picking up a pencil and copying down the rules of passive tense as Ms. Hallibel wrote them up. His pencil scratched along the paper.

"Oh, so you won't get mad?"

"Anger is a pointless emotion," Ulquiorra said. "I only feel it rarely. I wouldn't waste it on someone like you." The recipient chuckled at that statement, obviously skipping over the insult woven in.

"Man, you're hot," he purred out of nowhere. Ulquiorra glared holes into Ms. Hallibel's back. How such a conclusion could be reached from the conversation that they had just had was a mystery to him.

"Grimmjow, stop bothering the new student," Ms. Hallibel reprimanded without turning around.

"Wha-bu-fine," Grimmjow spluttered, sulkily sinking down into his seat and crossing his arms. "Bitch," he murmured under his breath. Great, he was one of those. Ulquiorra had learned long ago that he did not get along with such disrespectful people.

"I heard that, Mr. Jaegerjaques," Ms. Hallibel said. Grimmjow just grumbled unhappily. "Now, let's go over what we've already learned about passive tense in other classes. When do you use it? Dondochokka?"

"When you're writing history reports, don'tcha know," a rather pudgy bald boy said. his nose was big and red, as if he were sick. When he sniffed and the sound of globs of mucus rolling around could be heard Ulquiorra knew that was exactly what he was.

"Good. In Latin the case endings change to –r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -mini, -ntur instead of –o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt. Let's decline the word occupavi. Someone give me the four principle parts. Lilinette?"

!#$%^&*&^%$#!#$%^&)O*&^%$#Q!#$%^&*(*

Ulquiorra stood outside of the school. He had rounded the corner of the large brick building and gone out of sight of the large masses of students still milling around the frontside. It was much quieter here. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and flicked it open, the screen light coming on. The display told him that his aunt had called. He hit speed dial and held the cold phone to his ear.

He heard half of a ring before his aunt picked up. "Ulquiorra!" she said cheerfully. "I was waiting for you to call back, you know."

"I was in school, auntie," he said.

"What? Already? You just got there! And I told you, call me Rangiku! Auntie makes me feel old."

"You're not old, auntie," Ulquiorra said. "And yes, I started school today. I'm going to Las Noches high school, remember?"

"You're going to school on a lost nacho?" Rangiku said cluelessly.

"No, Las Noches," Ulquiorra said, shaking his head. "It's a Spanish name."

"Really?" Rangiku said. "Oo, that's so pretty sounding! Are you taking Spanish?"

"No ma'am, I take Latin," Ulquiorra said.

"Latin? But nobody speaks Latin anymore," Rangiku pouted. Ulquiorra could almost see her face, her plump bottom lip stuck out, her eyebrows arching up pathetically over her blue puppy-dog eyes, her orange waves of hair falling around her shoulders. That look almost always brought her husband to his knees.

"Latin is the root language of most European languages," Ulquiorra told her. "Taking it now will help me learn Italian next year."

"Oh, are you still set on that college in Italy?" Rangiku asked. "You'll be so far away! When will we ever see you?"

"That is not something to be worried about now," Ulquiorra said. "More on point, you called me."

"Oh, yes," Rangiku said, "that's right. I did call you. I don't remember why, though…"

"Did you need something?" Ulquiorra prompted.

"Well, I need some bread," Rangiku mused. "And some eggs, and milk, oh! and peppermint ice cream, and-"

"I'll let you go write all that down," Ulquiorra said. "I'll call you again later."

"Wait, Ulquiorra!"

"Good-bye, auntie," Ulquiorra said, clicking his phone closed on Rangiku's protests. He loved his auntie, but he could only take her in small doses. He dropped the device into his pocket and started in the direction of his new abode. It would be a chilly walk, but the sun was out. He could handle it. He heard someone around the corner up ahead wolf-whistling at some girl and the sound of a smack reverberating off the walls. Ulquiorra was going to have to walk right by the little scene. Lovely.

A large hand clamped heavily onto his shoulder. He spun around quickly and grabbed the wrist, pulling his attacker in close until the other person's arm was pulled behind Ulquiorra's back and took firm hold of their chiseled jaw. He looked into Grimmjow's wide, surprised blue eyes coldly. "It's you," he stated. Grimmjow grinned cockily. Was this person completely unaware of the situation he was in?

"Well, yeah," he said, "who were you expecting, the Easter bunny?" There were some snickers from behind the captured teen an Ulquiorra took a two millisecond glance back. He registered the group of goons and his eyes darted back to Grimmjow.

"Well, somebody's a little jumpy, wouldn't you say?" one of the members of the little entourage said. he was male with long blonde hair, leaning easily against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, yeah, a little jumpy!" another one crowed. This one was short with mixmatched teeth and a foolish-looking pirate hat on. Clearly he was not the brains of the pod.

"Hey, if he wants to jump on me it can't be helped," Grimmjow said, looking right into Ulquiorra's eyes. "Most people do. I'm a pretty magnetic hunk of meat."

"Well, you got the hunk of meat part right," Ulquiorra said scathingly.

"I'm glad you agree with me," Grimmjow said pompously. Apparently his Neanderthal-esque brain couldn't comprehend that Ulquiorra was insulting him. Either that or he knew and he chose to interpret it differently. "You're not to bad-lookin' yourself." The peanut gallery chuckled.

"You are incredibly thick, aren't you?" ulquoirra asked, tightening his crushing hold on Grimmjow's arm and jaw.

"Want me to show you how thick I am?" Grimmjow asked, waggling his eyebrows. Ulquiorra glared frigidly, twisting Grimmjow's arm and letting go of his jaw to use that hand to ram into his shoulder and slam him forcefully into the ground. Grimmjow hit hard but didn't wince, blinking up at Ulquiorra in evident surprise as his posse gasped and ooed. Ulquiorra adjusted his backpack on his shoulder, looking disdainfully down at the winded teen's indignant expression for a moment before turning and walking off. He ignored the profanities that Grimmjow's group shouted at him as Grimmjow sat up and watched him go.

Ulquiorra couldn't see Grimmjow smirk.

_Well, right into the action, huh? Please tell me what you think of it so far! _


	3. Chapter 3

Ulquiorra silently unlocked the door, walking in. He would have to get used to having a living area that was more than just two cement squares. In fact, Starrk's house was rather nicely sized, located not far from the school in a nice neighborhood. All the houses were identical and almost mansion-like. They were walls of grey-blue going up and down the street, their black-shingled roofs rising to the sky. On every house there were two balconies made of grey stone, one on each side, that were only large enough for one or two and rounded classically. Ulquiorra liked the look. It was orderly.

He walked through the foyer into the kitchen, setting his backpack down against the leg of one of the two chairs. There was no one there to sit in the other chair. Ulquiorra took a look around, noting that most of the surfaces needed dusting. He added that to the list of things to be done tonight, along with his minimal homework and unpacking. Ulquiorra had only gotten into Hueco Mundo at about 2:15 that morning and hadn't had the chance to pull anything but his clothes for the day out of the boxes.

Scanning the house again he decided that his first order of business was to dust. He went over to the silver fridge and looked at the piece of paper magnetized to the appliance that served the purpose of telling him where everything was kept. In Starrk's lucid handwriting, one thing looked quite like another. Ulquiorra decided that this would not do.

He pulled a notepad out of the large, droopy pocket of his partially zipped hoodie. That and a pencil were the only two items that he usually had on him. He took Starrk's note off of the fridge and walked back to the table, sitting down. He flipped open the notebook and set to work decoding his brother's handwriting.

!#%^&*^%$#!%^&*(&^%$#Q!#$%^&*(&^%$#!

Ulquiorra closed his pre-calc book and slid it into his backpack. As he pulled out his completed homework folder and popped open the rings, he took another look at his mental list. His homework was done, he had dusted and vacuumed, and he had taken a shower. That left only one thing: unpack. Clipping his binder closed, he left it on the table and stood up. It would be best to at least get his clothes for tomorrow out or they would need pressing in the morning.

He walked through the family room and opened the door to the foyer, where he had put his boxes. **(Note! If you would like to see the layouts of Grimmjow's and Ulquiorra's houses, look here: .com/art/Home-Layouts-for-Journey-196491907!) **There were seven in total, and he leaned down and lifted three that were relatively light and stacked on top of each other. The one on the top was already open from Ulquiorra's rummaging for clothes that morning.

The staircase was right next to the foyer, but a wall separated the two and made the only way to get from one to the other walking through the whole house. So that was what Ulquiorra did. His sock-feet were silent against the carpeted steps as he made his way up, the slanted white plaster wall that served as a railing rising with him. It was only a half-wall, and Ulquiorra could see over it into the kitchen.

He walked into the topmost level, an empty expanse of wood floors. The walls were a light yellow-brown and the multiple doors were wooden and matched the floors. There was nothing in sight other than that, nothing at all. It would be a good place to work in the future. Ulquiorra crossed to his bedroom door on the right wall, setting down the boxes to turn the knob and swing it open. He picked them back up and entered.

His room was simple but tasteful, small without being cramped. As the door closed behind him he set the boxes down one last time on his bed and looked around. The walls were the same grey-blue as the exterior of the house, his bedsheets matching. The floor was wooden just as the rest of the floors on this level, and the furniture and ceiling fan coincided colorwise. His bed was against the left wall, jutting out into the center of the room, and there was a dresser directly opposite it on the right wall. Across from the entrance there were large sliding glass doors that led out onto the balcony.

Ulquiorra left the boxes where they were. He made two more trips, each time carrying two boxes, and laying them out on his bed neatly before bending back the flaps of the one he previously opened. Neatly folded clothes sat waiting, and he pulled out one square bundle at a time. He stacked them on one of the other boxes. He had told himself that before anything else he would put this up. Now if only he could find it. He kept unpacking until a folded thing came into view.

He gently pulled it out. It was a small banner about six inches wide and a foot and a half long, displaying an embroidered version of a drawing he had made of a dirt road through tall sunflowers. The colors were vivid. In thin, loopy black letters, his favorite quote had been stitched in with care. His friend Ishida had made it for him upon hearing that he would be moving. Ulquiorra unfolded it carefully, catching the nail he had tucked into the folds as it fell out.

He looked around his room for somewhere he could hang up the beautifully made artwork. He noticed a door that he had seen earlier that was placed on a section of wall that jutted out into the room and looked at it for a moment before dismissing the thought; that was the door to his bathroom. He didn't want it hanging there.

He settled on a spot next to his rectangular mirror, above his dresser. As he drove the nail into the wall with the heel of his shoe he took notice of the drawer space in the dresser; six drawers total. That would be more than enough for his few articles of clothing. He doubted he would need to use his closet. He hung the banner delicately on the string and turned back to the unpacked, unsorted clothes on his bed. They needed to be put up according to article. He turned back just for a moment to see something to remind him of his old life, reading the quote silently in his mind before he set eyes on the banner.

_Life is a journey; for some, it is only a few days long; for others, it lasts a century; some have more tears than laughs; others more laughs than tears; but every life, in every time, touches another's journey enough to alter its course. _

He looked back to his shirts.


	4. Chapter 4

This Grimmjow person was going to be trying.

Ulquiorra kept his eyes on the hallway as he marched down it, pointedly ignoring the ludicrous teen following close behind. "Wassa matter?" the other boy asked teasingly. "I just wanna carry your books."

"I suggest you find something else to desire," Ulquiorra said. He weaved through the crowd. "Such as getting to your next class, which I doubt is in this direction."

"You sayin' I'm not smart enough to be taking classes in the senior hallway?" Grimmjow asked. He didn't sound mad, only horribly cocky. Ulquiorra did not answer. "Cuz, y'know, I do," Grimmjow continued. "I have AP physics this class." Ulquiorra snapped to attention.

"That can't be," he clipped. "You weren't there yesterday."

"I had a dentist's appointment," Grimmjow replied. "I was out until lunch." Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed. Then there were four possibilities for this trash to be in another class with him- and one of them had just been confirmed. "So does that mean that you have the same class as me? Ooh, and lemme guess, you got the chair in the middle row with an empty desk next to it, right?" Ulquiorra sped up. Yes, he remembered the teacher telling him which desk exactly to sit in and that the other was occupied. He heard Grimmjow crow as he saw the answer on his face.

"Do not get worked up," Ulquiorra warned. "You will rather regret it if you offend me."

"Oh, so you're admitting there are buttons to push," Grimmjow said, speeding up to pass Ulquiorra quickly, spinning around to face him and walking backwards. "Good. But I'll have to break that mask of yours first."

"The only thing you'll be breaking is your arm as you try to catch yourself," Ulquiorra stated. Grimmjow's eyebrow- which the delinquent had gone to the trouble of dying blue as well- raised and an amusing look of confusion crossed his face before he abruptly pitched backward. He fell on his ass with a yelp. A stray backpack that had been leaning against the wall and that Ulquiorra had noticed a few feet back had tripped the taller male, sending him tumbling. Grimmjow had never seen it coming. That was what he got for walking blindly backwards.

Ulquiorra just kept walking.

!#$%^(#$%T$#!($%#)(*()_)(*%*$($%#(*

Ulquiorra looked down at his schedule, scanning it over. He had Grimmjow in first period Physics, fourth period PE, and seventh period Latin III. Wonderful. He would have to find a way to deal with the other teen, and do so soon. He sat next to him in two of the three classes that they shared. That was bothersome, but bearable. Although Ulquiorra would admit that he would rather not have to deal with Grimmjow at all, he could deal with a mere three hours.

"Um…" Ulquiorra looked up to see a small, cute girl standing in front of him shyly.

"Yes?" he asked, eyeing the greenish ends of her hair that hung out from under her beanie.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Lilinette. Do you mind if I sit here?" Ulquiorra looked at her childish face and was reminded of his friend Orihime back home.

"Feel free," he answered. She slid onto the bench across from him easily.

"Thanks," she said. She was wearing odd pink-ish contacts, but aside from strange coloring she looked decent enough. A black shirt and a pair of dark-wash jeans were not incredibly impression-making, but at least her clothing was sensible. So were her shoes.

"You are in my Latin class, aren't you?" Ulquiorra asked. Lilinette looked surprised.

"Yeah, I am. Wow, I can't believe you remembered. Lemme guess, you're good with names and faces, right?" she asked.

"I am," he said. "May I ask where you heard that?"

"I'm a friend of Starrk's," Lilinette said proudly. Ulquiorra looked at her anew. His brother may have been lazy and a little less that motivational, but he was smart enough not to hang around who weren't worth his time and it was obvious that Lilinette knew him quite well. She referred to him as Starrk instead of his nickname, Coyote. Ulquiorra immediately pushed any judgments he had made of her aside. "Actually," Lilinette said, " that's why I wanted to come sit by you. You're his brother, right?"

"I am," Ulquiorra affirmed. "May I ask how you met him?"

"Oh, he did some work for my dad a few summers ago," Lilinette said. "We became friends pretty fast. Have you heard anything from him lately?"

"Not since he called me to let me know that he would be working in Atlanta," Ulquiorra answered. "Of course, he signed the papers stating that he would be responsible for me until I turned eighteen and that I could live in his house, but no other contact than that so far." Lilinette looked downcast, kind of like a bunny that had been left out in the rain.

"Oh," she said.

"Don't worry," Ulquiorra said, "it's just because he's too lazy to write. He's fine."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right," the young girl said, perking back up. "This is Starrk we're talking about. So, what grade are you again?"

"I'm a junior," Ulquiorra answered.

"Oh yeah, Starrk told me that," Lilinette said. "I'm a senior." Ulquiorra inclined his head. Lilinette just chuckled, saying, "Yeah, I know, I look really young. But I'm eighteen!" she grinned. Ulquiorra thought that she didn't just look young, but acted as much too. Ah, well.

"Do you have any idea what your plans are after high school?" he asked.

"Sure!" Lilinette chirped. "I'm gonna train for the summer Olympics. I'm a swimmer." That explained the slightly green tinge to her hair; she must have been blonde and all that time in the chlorine had leeched the color out.

"Good luck with that," Ulquiorra said sincerely.

"Thanks," Lilinette said. "What about you?"

"I plan to major in visual art," Ulquiorra replied. "I'm unsure what college at the moment."

"Cool!" Lilinette said. "What are you leaning towards?"

"Bella Musica in Italy," Ulquiorra said. "It's mainly a music college, but their visual programs are just as renowned."

"Oh, so is that why you're taking Latin?" Lilinette asked. Ulquiorra nodded. "Neat street. I wish I'd started with Latin freshman year, but I tried French instead. Bad idea."

"That's why you're in Latin III not IV," Ulquiorra said.

"Yup!" Lilinette chirped cheerily. The bell rang. "Oops, gotta go. See you seventh, Ulquiorra," the teen said, waving back at Ulquiorra as she entered the stem of students piling out of the room. Ulquiorra put his hand up. Well, now he had a friend. Things were looking up.

Even for him.

Well, whaddaya think so far? Oh, and I think you all saw, but in the last chapter I had a link to the layouts of Grimmjow's and Ulquiorra's houses. If I were you, I'd take a look. It'll make things clearer, and I'm not going to go out of my way to explain it in the story. Thanks! Please R&R!


	5. Chapter 5

Ulquiorra listened to the phone ringing on the other line, leaning against his grey, splotched countertop. Speaking to Lilinette had reminded him that he had yet to call home, and he could hardly wait until he got back to the house to do so. It had become a yearning. Someone picked up.

"Hello?" the voice came over the distance, fuzzy but audible.

"Hello, Yuzu-chan," Ulquiorra said. "It's Ulquiorra. Can I speak to Ichigo, please?" Yuzu's girlish voice perked up.

"Ulorra!" she said happily, using the petname she had called him by as a toddler. "Nii-san, Ulorra called! He's on right now!" Ulquiorra could hear the rushing down the stairs, footsteps quickly getting louder.

"Well, give it here!" Ichigo admonished. Ulquiorra could see him yanking the phone out of Yuzu's little hand excitedly. "You, Ulquiorra!" he said into the phone. "What took you so long, man? Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker."

"I apologize," Ulquoirra said as the phone beeped. "I've been busy."

"We've been waiting," the redhead said. "We're all here. Study session tonight."

"Hiiii, Ulquiorra-kun!" Orihime chirped, undoubtedly leaning forward to be sure he heard her.

"Hello, Orihime-san," Ulquiorra said, pulling out a red-leather covered stool like what they had at old burger houses, sitting on it at his breakfast bar. The hanging red lights, he noted, were too high to have to worry about hitting his head on.

"How are you adjusting?" Ishida asked.

"Well," Ulquiorra said. "I put up the embroidered banner you made for me."

"Really?" Ishida's satisfaction was evident even through their scratchy connection. "How does it look?"

"You made it excellently," Ulquiorra promised. Ishida started to say something, but Rukia interjected.

"As much as we all love listening to you and Ishida chat about sewing techniques," she said, "I want to know about your new school!"

"Yeah," Renji quipped, "has anybody called you a girl yet?"

"We have a betting pool going," Orihime said cheerily, obviously not understanding a word out of her mouth.

"Shh, Inoue," Chad said. his deep baritone voice shivered over the phone.

"In fact, someone has," Ulquiorra said, frowning at the memory, "if you care to call it that. A rather raucous male has referred to me as 'babe' multiple times."

"And you haven't socked him yet?" Ichigo asked, incredulous.

"I have been tempted," Ulquiorra answered.

"Is this guy bugging you?" Ichigo asked, hints of his protective nature sliding into his tone. Ulquiorra appreciated it.

"It is nothing I can't deal with," he reassured.

"Why didn't you call sooner, Ulquiorra-kun?" Orihime asked sweetly. "It feels like it's been forever!"

"It's only been a week since I left, Orihime-san," Ulquiorra said.

"I know, but it feels like it's been so long!"

"I agree," Ulquiorra told her.

"How was the drive up?" Chad asked. That was why Ulquiorra liked Chad; he was a practical, gentle giant.

"Difficult," Ulquiorra said. "As expected. There was a huge snow storm just as I was passing through the Seireitei area."

"Did you stay with Byakuya?" Ichigo asked, tittering. It was well known that Ulquiorra and Byakuya were too similar to get along. They were respectful to each other, of course, but their silent and emotionless ways proved to be a nuisance when they were together.

"No," Ulquiorra said, "Ukitake-san was so kind as to let me stay with him."

"Ah!" Rukia said, "of course Ukitake-san would do such a thing! He is a very kind man."

"Man, Rukia, you sound like you've got some sort of a crush on him!" Renji joked. There was a smack and a yelp.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Rukia said indignantly. "Ukitake-san is far to classy to fall for someone like me, his own student!"

"You still sound like you have a crush. Ow," Chad said.

"We've missed you at the fight bar," Ichigo said, talking over the madness. "Every time I've kicked ass I did it thinking of you."

"I appreciate that," Ulquiorra said.

"Yeah, man," Renji said, "it's been really weird without you there. You were always the one raking in the most money in a night. Hey, are you gonna keep fighting up there? There's this kickass fight bar a friend of mine told me about. I think it's called the Glutoneria or something. I've heard that all the best fighters in Hueco Mundo fight there."

"I might look into it," Ulquiorra said.

"You should," Renji prompted. "It'd be a shame if you just stopped fighting."

"Agreed," Ichigo said.

"Unless you practice on that guy who thinks you're a babe."

"Ha, ha," Ulquiorra said.

"Ne, ne, Ulquiorra-kun," Orihime piped, "how are your new teachers? Are they nice?"

"Yes, what about your classmates?" Rukia asked. "Have you made any friends?"

"Yes, I have," Ulquiorra said, settling onto his chair. There would be a lot of questions to answer tonight; not that he could object. He just wanted to be comfortable answering them. He decided he should get some hot chocolate.


	6. Chapter 6

The alarm clock went off, ringing shrilly by Ulquiorra's head. Ulquiorra rolled over and quickly turned it off; that high-pitched racket annoyed him to no end, which was why he chose it as an alarm. He sat up in his bed, wiggling his toes absently as he checked the weather through the glass balcony doors. The sun was just peeking out over the black land in a blaze of color, promising a good day to come. Ulquiorra lifted himself out of bed.

His obvious first order of business was, as always, to get a shower. Since it was a Saturday, he could afford to spend a little longer in the steam. It might help with the cold he suspected was coming on. Within moments he was in his bathroom, closing the door to trap the heat. He did turn on the fan, however, to be sure he didn't get too much moisture in the air. Then he flicked on the water, testing it for heat with his palm before stepping in, his pajamas folded neatly on the counter.

He slicked his hair out of his face, the many droplet cascading down his pale back. He grabbed the shampoo. He had a rather long list of things to get done this weekend: unpack, clean up, locate the laundry appliances, go grocery shopping, get and change some light bulbs, finish his homework from last night, and it would probably be fortuitous too pre-cook a few meals for the week. He washed the suds out of his jet-black hair, turning the water off and reaching out for a towel.

He dried himself off leisurely, tying the soft white towel around his waist and stepping out. He had been right about the steam helping his sinuses. He grabbed his pajamas and opened the door, lining up what needed to be done in an orderly fashion. He would have to be efficient if he wanted to finish his tasks.

~!#$%^&*(*&^%$#!~!#$%^

Ulquiorra checked the expiration date on yet another box. Naturally it had been expired for some time, and he threw it into one of the three nearly-full trash bags that consisted of the majority of the food in Starrk's pantry. All that was left was a few discarded cans of spam, a box of Cheerios, and some raisins. The fridge was equally as empty after Ulquiorra's thorough purging. Needless to say, Ulquiorra's priorities had shifted.

He grabbed the heavy white trash bags, feeling the majority of the weight settle to the bottom and put a strain on the weak plastic. He awkwardly opened the door to the foyer, then the door that led him outside where two trash cans and his black truck were waiting.

One trash bag was already full, and the other was only large enough for two of the bags. Ulquiorra leaned the other one against the trashcan; according to Starrk's note the trash was normally picked up on Sundays, so the unsightly scene wouldn't be on the corner very long. Ulquiorra easily hefted his little body into the front seat of his beloved car, enjoying the familiar roar as he started it up. The lights flicked on in his dash, the meters fluctuating before falling to the correct places. His GPS blinked to life, and he reached over and plugged in 'grocery store- closest.'

The machinery hummed for a moment before the satellite found it, then calculated the information needed with a beep. A female voice said, "Closest grocery store to 9735 Espada Circle; Ira: Hueco Mundo's Supermarket." Great, Ulquiorra thought, rolling his eyes and pulling out of his driveway. Someone named a fight bar Gluttony, and someone else named a grocery store Anger. Perfect. Was everyone here so negative? Not that he was one to talk. He lived his life around the emptiness inside of him.

He easily followed all the directions that his lovely little GPS called out to him, making mental notes along the way. He didn't need to have the way memorized yet, since his GPS would tell him until he told it not to, but he did want to eventually be able to tell it not to. He made the last turn and found a parking space, one relatively close to the door of the large supermarket so he wouldn't have too far to walk. He opened his door and slid out, ignoring the ledge attached to the bottom of his door and just dropping to the ground. He was a little too short for his car.

He patted his pocket to be sure his wallet was still there, walking easily over and into the supermarket. He knew he was going to end up dropping a lot of money today, but he had to if he had any intention of having food. He was already thinking about how he could get that money back. The glass doors slid open as he approached them and he stepped inside.

The store was large, but just like any other supermarket. Ulquiorra looked around; from what he could tell, produce was on the right, non-food items were on the left, and he was pretty sure he could see the meats up against the back wall. He grabbed a shopping cart, pulling it away from the others and veering to the right. All he needed was food.

He meandered through the aisles, taking a good look at the vegetables sitting in the open. They were still shiny and wet from the recent misting, and all the greens looked crisp. He stocked up, pulling lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and bags of beans into his cart before going on to the fruit. He was far from a health nut, but he liked the taste of just about anything that came out of the earth. So, he got peaches, plums, pears, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and mangoes for later.

Pleased with his organic findings, he made his way to the breads. He grabbed just one loaf of wheat and walked straight forward into the freezer section, where he did the real bulk of his shopping. He got microwavable pizza rolls, microwavable pancakes, microwavable entrées, just about anything microwavable that would be fast and easy to make in case he didn't have time for anything else. If it was halfway decent and in the freezer section, he grabbed for it.

His shopping continued on in this manner for a while, with him constantly adding up the prices in his head. He knew that if he went over $350 he would get messages from his bank telling him about the charges on his credit card, and those were always incredibly annoying. He rolled up to the cashier, thankful that he was one of the only people there and had the cashier to himself, thus eliminating the line. He could see why no one else had come to this register though, especially given who was running it.

"Well, hello there," Nnoitra grinned, "if it isn't the new kid. Whassa matter, did someone make off with your pantry?"

"The reason why I buy in bulk is none of your business," Ulquiorra said, taking out the sodas and placing them on the black moving strip neatly. Nnoitra scowled.

"Who do you think you are?" he asked dangerously.

"Currently, I believe that I am a customer waiting to be rung up," Ulquiorra said coolly. Nnoitra 'tch'ed, grabbing another bottle of soda harshly and sweeping it across the laser. He handled it roughly, and Ulquiorra made a note not to open that one until he was sure it wouldn't blow up in his face.

He was completely silent, and he liked it that way. This trash wasn't worth starting a conversation with. He just kept unloading his goods, despite being able to feel Nnoitra's stare on his face; it didn't bother him that his classmate was glaring at him, as long as his groceries got bagged. "Y'know," Nnoitra said as a grin slowly crept over his face, "you may be a shit, but I bet you're great in bed." Ulquiorra stopped his movement, turning his head and glaring ice at the Jiruga. The cashier just smiled at him lecherously.

"Whaaat? I bet it's true," he drawled. "Don'tcha wanna let me test my theory? You're so good in science class- don'tcha wanna instill the scientific theory in a peer, Pretty Boy?"

"Do _not _call me such a derogatory name," Ulquiorra demanded, returning to his task. The groceries just piled up at the end of the line as if Nnoitra didn't see them at all.

"I ain't bein' derogatory," he said. "I called ya pretty."

"Precisely," Ulquiorra said. "Do you have any intention to do your job, or should I go to your manager and see if I can get him to give you the opportunity to find a new one?" Nnoitra remained grinning, but anger crackled menacingly just behind it and Ulquiorra knew that second period would not be fun on Monday.

"I would love to," Nnoitra said fakely, grabbing the lettuce and staring Ulquiorra down. Ulquiorra just looked back. He knew he was stronger than this piece of garbage, despite his smaller size, and he knew that he was, so to speak, the 'dominant male' in this situation. He was unafraid.

Nonetheless, when his groceries were ready he decided that it would be smart of him to leave very quickly.


	7. Chapter 7

The weekend went by far too fast for Ulquiorra's liking. In fact, he got very little done over the course of the whole next week-except somehow make Grimmjow more interested in him. He had no idea how that kept happening when all he did was be scathing and cold, but of course the quarterback wasn't particularly bright and Ulquiorra had a feeling that the imbecile didn't have the brain capacity to comprehend many of his insults. Either that or he kept twisting their meanings to irk Ulquiorra, which would not have been out of the question if the blue-haired teen possessed that wit. Ulquiorra doubted it.

Ulquiorra sneezed, again, quickly covering his mouth with one of the tissues he'd taken to carrying with him. his brewing sickness had manifested itself a few days ago, and he'd been unable to stop his loud expulsions of snot since. of course, the moment Grimmjow had noticed he'd poked the end of Ulquiorra's raw nose and commented on how cute he looked with it all red. just remembering it worsened his already sour mood.

He was sure he wouldn't be so sick if it weren't for Nnoitra, who had been dumping cold water on him every day after school. True, Ulquiorra could get home and change in fifteen minutes, but even that short amount of time in wet clothes wreaked havoc with his cold. He'd attempted to bring a change of clothes with him, but Nnoitra had been waiting outside the bathroom with twice the water.

Ulquiorra maneuvered his way through the hallways to his third period, which was American Lit and Comp. III in the East hallway. Their school was set up rather simply, in two squares, which made it much easier to get around in than Karakura High. Still, he'd make the trade any day. This place was quickly becoming troublesome.

He gasped as he felt an icy cold suddenly burst over his head. There were loud guffaws from behind him as the water dripped down his back, soaking through the hoodie and shirt to grow gooseflesh on his skin. Of course. Why would Nnoitra wait to torment him until after school, when he expected it? It was so much more effective in the morning. And since Ulquiorra wasn't a senior, he didn't have off-campus privileges and couldn't go get dry clothes. Great. He shivered as a frigid droplet slid into the small of his back, but did not look behind him as he continued down the hall.

He would report this at lunch.

Ulquiorra hurried into the locker room, shedding his sodden garb quickly and without shame for the other eyes staring at him. Normally he went into one of the shower stalls to change for PE, since Grimmjow had a tendency to leer at him while he did, but today he just needed to get out of his sopping clothes and into his dry PE uniform.

He had suffered through third period, his shuddering getting more and more pronounced as the time ticked by, and he just knew that he would be too sick to attend school on Monday. His grey shirt felt warm against his damp skin as he slid it on, warm and gloriously dry. For a moment it stopped his shivering and re-sharpened his fuzzing mind. God, he was cold. And while there was an immediate relief when he changed his shirt, the water had soaked through his skin and into his muscles and beneath that his bones. He knew that it would take quite a while to pry the ice out of his marrow. Hopefully being up and moving around would help him warm up, even if he felt sluggish in the attempt.

He felt someone looking at him oddly as he sat heavily down on the bench in the middle of the room. It wasn't lecherous, and therefore he didn't believe it to be Grimmjow. normally he wouldn't bother to look, but right them he forgot all about caring. The freezing temperature of his core was pulling the blood away from his equally as cold head, and his thought process was just impaired enough to allow his curiosity to peek through. He turned to look.

It was Grimmjow, as unlikely as it seemed. It was obvious that Grimmjow was wondering why Ulquiorra was shivering-although it surprised Ulquiorra that the fool had noticed at all- and his hair was plastered to his head. Ulquiorra met his blue eyes for a moment, and then Grimmjow jerked his head away as if he hoped he hadn't been caught staring. That was strange. Grimmjow hadn't exactly cared before when Ulquiorra caught him, and in fact the harassment usually got worse when he did.

The coach's shrill whistle could be heard outside in the gym, calling them all out from the locker rooms, and a sudden flood of young men tried to cram itself through the doorway as people slammed their lockers closed. Ulquiorra pulled the red PE shorts up over his boxers and stood- and immediately felt the need to sit back down as the blood rushed from his head, making it pound. He swayed but remained standing, blaming his uncharacteristic dizziness on his blaring sinus pressure and quickly following the mob out of the now nearly empty room.

As he staggered out, his feet stumbling in a way that they rarely ever did, he set aside a large chunk of time in his mind to take a long, hot bath that night. It was Friday, so he could stay up a little later to do that. And he needed to take some decongestant when he got back too. He could set his alarm for an hour later as well so he could sleep and recuperate. By the time he was standing in line against the wall to be divided into teams he could barely feel the tips of his fingers, his ears only faintly hearing Coach McEvan giving directions. His vision was only seeing colorful blurs that appeared vaguely familiar, and he realized that he should have sat down.

"Evan, Michael, Bruce," Coach McEvan continued listing people to be on team one. "Taylor, Ulquiorra-woah, hell," he cursed, eyes widening as his gaze landed on Ulquiorra. "What the hell happened to you?" he asked rudely. Well, Ulquiorra was sure he didn't look _that_ bad. "You're as white as a ghost- and why is your hair all wet?"

"I had water dumped on me earlier, Coach," Ulquiorra answered honestly, although making his mouth move was not the easiest thing he'd ever done in his life. How long had his teeth been chattering? "I'm fine."

"Yer shakin' like a leaf, kid, you're not fine," Coach pointed out, and Ulquiorra realized it was true. When had his body gotten so out of hand? He could barely even move away as Coach strode up and pressed a hand against his forehead. "Fuck!" the man cussed, "you're as cold as a corpse! We gotta get you to the nurse. Grimmjow, take over the class 'till I get back. Come on, kid."

Ulquiorra couldn't even protest as he was led firmly out of the gym. Oh, great. As soon as the doors to the gym closed behind them the coach said, "Who dumped water on you? Was it Nnoitra?" Ulquiorra stumbled the moment he took his attention away from his feet to try to form a coherent response, and if it weren't for Coach he would have fallen flat on his face. He let the man straighten him back up before nodding thickly. Coach swore.

"Shit, why doesn't that surprise me?" he asked irately. "He's off the team. Officially. I can't deal with his shit anymore." Ulquiorra tried to tell the coach that Nnoitra was sure to find out it was because of him, and then his life here would be even worse; but his tongue was a fat dead thing in his mouth that wouldn't move. Well, great. He was just having the best day.

The moment that they walked into the nurse's office Ulquiorra found himself laying down with a thermometer being held in his ear. The nurse announced that his core temperature had dropped quite low, probably due in part to his cold, and he needed to get home and did he have anyone he could call?

Well, it looked like he was going to get that hot bath earlier than he expected.

But first he had to drive home.


	8. Chapter 8

_Dear everyone: I apologize for any typos in this or chapter seven. I just got my first Mac- I love it sooooo much! If you're considering switching, do- but I haven't quite yet figured out the autocorrect works on Pages so there could be some issues. If any of you own a Mac and care to enlighten me please do, but in any case I apologize again for any typos. If you could point them out to me it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!_

"And everyone could hear Coach screaming at him from the hallway!" Lilinette exclaimed. "He said that Nnoitra was lucky he was just kicked off the team for something like that, and next time he'll find himself suspended." Ulquiorra sighed, leaning back against the headboard. Lilinette had been kind enough to come by and check on him, even bringing him a large yellow and orange flower bouquet with a get-well card, but she absolutely refused to let him get out of bed.

"And I'm sure he'll do that," Ulquiorra said. "Hopefully Nnoitra knows it as well, because it could keep him from taking out his anger on me."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll get a break for at least a little while," Lilinette said. "He has to pretend to behave long enough to throw off his scent. But when he does start back up again now you have a partner in Coach." Ulquiorra nodded, and Lilinette jumped up as the doorbell rang. "Oo, that must be the Chinese! I'll get it, you stay here." Ulquiorra watched as she ran excitedly out, preferring not to say a word since his voice was scratchy and hoarse.

It had been quite a surprise to open the door and find Lilinette standing there. He'd known she would probably call, but to show up at his house with flowers was going above and beyond the call of duty. It made him think of his friends at home and what they would normally do when he was sick. He got the feeling that he was getting accepted, at least by one person. But having her go on about the issue at school the day before had caused was beginning to make him feel sick to his stomach. Well, that could have been the drainage too, but he knew that life at school was going to get harder now. He had looked so weak.

He was sure that he would be coddled by Grimmjow now, and that would be more aggravating than anything else. He could just see in his mind's eye Grimmjow's cocky expression; he'd bet anything in ingrate would try to urge Ulquiorra to let him 'take care of' him, and he was certainly not looking forward to being put in the spot of the damsel in distress. Lilinette came prancing back in, and Ulquiorra's stomach growled loudly as the smell of warm lo mein drifted over to him. He happily took the paper box that was handed to him and opened it as Lilinette sat back down in the chair she'd pulled over to his bed.

"You know, Grimmjow had a super crazy reaction to it all when he found out you were so sick because of Nnoitra," Lilinette said as Ulquiorra stuffed a pile of greasy noodles into his mouth. He rolled his eyes; speak of the devil. "He went totally bonkers on Nnoitra in the hallway. They were screaming so loud that people came out of their classrooms to watch them."

"What a surprise," Ulquiorra said.

"Oh, that's not the surprising part," Lilinette promised. "They got into a huge fist fight, right there in the middle of the hall, and Nnoitra _broke_ Grimmjow's _nose._ There was blood everywhere, it was killer." Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow but wouldn't talk with his mouth full, and Lilinette took that as curiosity and continued. Honestly, that was a little surprising. Not that either one would get in a fight, but that it would get so heated.

"Grimmjow threw Nnoitra into the lockers, and now three of them have such crumpled doors that they won't close and all three freshman who used them have to carry their stuff around until they get fixed," Lilinette divulged. "One of the mirrors in the bathroom- that's where the fight started- is broken too. Grimmjow and Nnoitra have to pay to have the damage fixed, and Grimmjow's suspended until Wednesday."

"Good," Ulquiorra said. "I get a break from him too." Lilinette fidgeted, suddenly looking uneasy, and Ulquiorra stopped mid-bite to hear what she had to say.

"Actually," she said, "not to call you weak or anything, but I think having Grimmjow there would protect you more. Nnoitra may have broken Grimmjow's nose, but Grimmjow broke Nnoitra's arm. Plus, he's the quarterback. He's got status, so going against him is stupid on Nnoitra's part. Maybe having Grimmjow following you isn't so bad now that Nnoitra's out to get you, and unlike Grimmjow Nnoitra will hit you from behind. That's all I'm saying." Ulquiorra saw the reason in that, and he hated it. He sighed.

"Wonderful," he said.

"Well, we can always hope Nnoitra's still too scared of Coach to do anything, right?" Lilinette said.

Ulquiorra didn't say how much hope had ever gotten him.


	9. Chapter 9

Ulquiorra groaned tiredly as the phone by his bed rang shrilly. No. Nuh-uh. He was _not_ going to wake up and answer to phone, not when he was sick, not when it was probably a solicitor anyway. He squeezed his eyes shut, wriggling a little and balling more into himself to keep warm.. He had pulled his soft blanket up to his neck, and his comforter up to his temple so that his breath came back at him and warmed his face and shoulders. The phone stopped ringing. No one knew it, and hopefully no one ever would, but Ulquiorra was a _creaturtous comfortous _deep inside himself. He didn't allow himself that weakness very often, but there were some things he just couldn't help. And he loved cacooning.

With the room now silent again, Ulquiorra resigned himself to go back to sleep. He wasn't going to lie and say he was upset about that. And he was almost gone, too, when the phone started up again and shocked him out of it. He resisted the childish urge to growl, hunching more into himself a if he could block out the annoying noise. He was determined to just _sleep._ It wasn't going to be anyone he knew, either- it was Monday, he wasn't going to bother to check what time but about mid-morning, and everyone was in school already.

The caller called him four more times before he finally snapped and grabbed the damn phone.

"I'm not interested in what you're sell-" After that, the only thing that would come out of his mouth were rib-shaking coughs that grated against the inside of his chest. Great. Just great. He trued to speak through them, but only snippets of words could come out at a time and he cursed himself in his head. All he wanted was to tell the caller to stop bothering him and hang up the phone so he could sleep, and even that was beyond him at the moment.

"Woah, woah, hey," an agitatingly familiar voice said quickly, "calm down. Just breathe. Just-"

"Shut up," Ulquiorra snapped breathlessly. Of course. After all, besides him there _was_ one other person not in school on this oh-so-fine day.

"Hey, ouch, Rude McSnappypants," Grimmjow said airily. "Jesus, what kind of cold have you got? That cough was killer- and you sound all nasal and shit."

"What a coincidence, so do you," Ulquiorra deadpanned.

"Yeah, well, that's cuz-"

"I'm well aware what happened," Ulquiorra clipped. "How did you get my phone number?"

"I got it from Coyote forever ago," Grimmjow said offhandedly.

"Well please promptly lose it," Ulquiorra said.

"No thanks."

Ulquiorra tried not to let himself boil over. This was absolutely the last thing he needed right in that moment. "Excellent," he murmured to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose to stop an oncoming headache that he doubted was the sinus pressure.

"Isn't it?" Grimmjow asked cheerily, ignoring Ulquiorra's cynicism in the way he had a tendency to. "Hey, aren't you going to thank me for taking care of Nnoitra for you? I got all busted up protecting you, y'know." Ulquiorra seethed, hand tightening on the receiver. He was not in the mood for this, not at all, and Grimmjow's carefree, confident attitude was irritating him further. He had thought that he had some time during which he could relax and not have to worry about the blue-haired quarterback's advances, but here Grimmjow called him at home. Ulquiorra's lips pressed tighter together.

"Help me?" he said coldly, "how have you helped me? You got into a useless fistfight and injured someone who already despises me, and did so openly stating that you did it _for me._ And Nnoitra has now been kicked off the football team, so he isn't going to fool around anymore. Every bruise you put on him, you put on me. And then you dared to call and brag about it. Now, if you don't mind, I'm sick and I'm tired and I'm going back to bed, so don't bother calling back."

"Hey- wai-" Ulquiorra slammed the phone down before Grimmjow could finish. Damn. Damn damn damn. Ulquiorra heaved an angry sigh, knowing that what he had told Grimmjow was true. He hoped Grimmjow felt horribly guilty. Of course, he wasn't holding out hope; he wasn't stupid enough to expect anything from that deviant, not even a shred of basic human feeling.

Ulquiorra curled back into himself as if he would actually be able to sleep again. He needed to, he wanted to, but now his thoughts were agitated and jumpy and not at all conducive to rest. He inwardly cursed. Damn that boy! It was ridiculous of him to call Ulquiorra's house just to brag for brownie points over his useless actions, and while he knew Ulquiorra was sick at that.

When the phone rang again a few minutes later he didn't bother to pick up.

Ulquiorra jolted as Lilinette crashed through the door to his bedroom, wondering mutely how she'd gotten into his house. She looked like a wild creature, her hair strewn about and her eyes wide. He saw her panting. She looked at him a second, and relief washed over her face- then she got mad.

"What is wrong with you?" she shouted, and Ulquiorra blinked at her. "I called you six times! Why didn't you answer? I was worried sick!"

"I apologize," Ulquiorra said honestly. "Someone else called me earlier just to bother me, and I though he was calling back because I hung up. I would have picked it up if I had known it was you."

"Don't you have caller ID?" Lilinette asked, as exasperated as she looked.

"No," Ulquiorra answered.

"Well then you need to get some!" the swimmer declared. "I skipped out of fourth to come and make sure you were okay!"

"Thank you, Lilinette," Ulquiorra said, truly thankful for such a gesture, "but why ould you feel the need to do that? You saw me this morning, and I was fine."

"Grimmjow called me," Lilinette said, and Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes. Couldn't Grimmjow stop meddling for just one day? "He said he'd called you, and you coughed like a dying man! He wanted me to check on you 'cause he knew you wouldn't answer if he called, but when I tried you wouldn't fucking pick up!" Ulquiorra's eyebrows raised; he had never heard Lilinette cuss before just that moment. Coming from someone who looked so childish, it was incredibly strange (and also slightly comical). Lilinette strode forward and put the back of her hand to Ulquiorra's forehead.

"See, you have a fever," he said. "And your throat sounds all scratchy. Were you really coughing?"

"I was," Ulquiorra said, "but it's really wasn't so bad. I've had some tea, and that helps." He didn't want to tell Lilinette how much he'd really been hacking, not when she was already so high-strung over his health, but he had a feeling he knew just what he'd come down with.

"Well, then, I'll go make you more tea," Lilinette said, standing up and looking like she was going to do just that.

"I have some already," Ulquiorra said, showing her the thermos on the bedside table. Thankfully it's top was still secure on it, so Lilinette couldn't see that Ulquiorra had sucked it dry already. "You need to go back to school."

"But-"

"We only have a week and a half until midterms," Ulquiorra said firmly. "You can't afford to miss class. I'm fine. Go." The way she looked at him like she was weighing all the options made him think of Orihime back home.

"Promise you'll pick up the phone?" she asked skeptically.

"I promise," Ulquiorra said.

"And you'll call me if you need anything?"

"Of course."

Lilinette hesitated, but couldn't think of another argument to stay. Finally she said, "Alright, fine. I'll go back to school- but so help me sweet infant Jesus if I call you and you don't pick up-"

"That won't happen," Ulquiorra cut off her threat, choosing not to say anything about her choice of deities to swear to. "I promise. Now go, I still be here after school gets out." The dubious look on Lilinette's face didn't fade, but she turned to leave with one last backward glance. He was glad she'd agreed without more coercing. He swallowed thickly and felt his dry throat burn.

He slowly clambered out of bed to go fill up the thermos.


End file.
